Exercise system and method

Abstract

A method for displaying archived exercise classes comprising displaying information about archived exercise classes that can be accessed by a first user via a computer network on a display screen at a first location, wherein the first user can select among a plurality of archived classes, outputting digital video and audio content comprising the selected archived class, detecting a performance parameter for the first user at a particular point in the selected class, displaying the performance parameter on the display screen, and displaying performance parameters from a second user at a second location on the display screen such that at least one of the performance parameters from the first user and at least one of the performance parameters from the second user at the same point in the class are presented for comparison.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 providing, for display on a display device associated with a first exercise device, an on-demand exercise class, wherein the on-demand exercise class comprises previously recorded content and a timeline; 
 receiving information indicative of a first user's live activity associated with the first exercise device, the first user's live activity information being associated with first user's physical activity; 
 retrieving information indicative of a second user's archived activity associated with a second exercise device, the second user's archived activity information associated with second user's physical activity; 
 synchronizing the first user's live activity information with the second user's archived activity information; 
 synchronizing the timeline and the previously recorded content of the on-demand exercise class to graphically indicate a remaining time or an elapsed time in the on-demand exercise class; and 
 providing, for display on display device, the first user's live activity information and the second user's archived activity information as a ranked list and the timeline. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing, for display on the display device, the previously recorded content of the on-demand exercise class together with the ranked list and the timeline. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing, for display on the display device, together with the timeline, a first indicia graphically indicating a type of physical activity to be performed by the first user during a first portion of the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing, for display on the display device, together with the timeline, multiple indicia, each indicia corresponding to a physical activity to be performed by the first user during a corresponding portion of the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the timeline includes a plurality of time segments corresponding to different portions of the on-demand exercise class associated with physical activities performed by the first user. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein lengths of the time segments in the timeline correspond to durations of the physical activities. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 updating the timeline to graphically indicate the remaining time or the elapsed time of the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the synchronizing the first user's live activity information with the second user's archived activity information further comprises:
 synchronizing, at a control station, the first user's live activity information with the second user's archived activity information based on points in time associated with the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 synchronizing the timeline with the first user's live activity information based on the points in time; and 
 receiving, from the control station, at the first exercise device the first user's live activity information, the second user's archived activity information, and the timeline. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 causing the display device to display the ranked list of the first user's live activity information and the second user's archived activity information, wherein the ranked list is continuously updated such that the displayed activity information compares the physical activity of the first user and the second user participating in the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing the first user's live activity information and the second user's archived activity information in a central database to be included as archived user activity information during a subsequent replay of the on-demand exercise class. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the previously recorded content includes an instructor video content demonstrating how to perform at least one physical activity. 
     
     
       13. An exercise system, comprising:
 a display coupled to a first stationary exercise device and configured to:
 display a plurality of exercise classes; 
 in response to receiving a selection of an instructor-led exercise class from the plurality of exercise classes, receive content of the instructor-led exercise class, the content comprising video content configured to display an instructor; 
 display video content of the selected instructor-led exercise class; 
 obtain first user activity information according to points in time, wherein the first user activity information is information based on physical activity by a first user associated with movement of the first stationary exercise device; 
 display a timeline that indicates graphically and according to the points in time a remaining time or an elapsed time in the selected instructor-led exercise class; 
 receive synchronized activity information of first exercise participants that are participating in the instructor-led exercise class and second exercise participants that participated in a previous replay of the instructor-led exercise class; and 
 display a leaderboard, the leaderboard comprising a list that includes a correspondence between the first user and the first user activity information and a correspondence between the first and second exercise participants and the activity information of the first and second exercise participants. 
 
 
     
     
       14. The exercise system of  claim 13 , wherein the display coupled to the first stationary exercise device is further configured to:
 display the timeline as time segments; and 
 display, at each one of the time segments, an indicia graphically indicating a type of physical activity to be performed by the first user. 
 
     
     
       15. The exercise system of  claim 13 , wherein the timeline includes a first segment and a second segment, the first segment indicating a first type of physical activity and the second segment indicating a second type of physical activity, and wherein the first and second types of physical activities are to be performed by the first user during the respective first and second segments of the selected instructor-led exercise class. 
     
     
       16. The exercise system of  claim 13 , wherein the display coupled to the first stationary exercise device is further configured to:
 display updates to the leaderboard based on changes in the first user activity information and changes in the first and second exercise participants' activity information. 
 
     
     
       17. The exercise system of  claim 13 , wherein the first stationary exercise device comprises a first treadmill and the instructor-led exercise class comprises receiving indications of an instructor running on a moving belt of a second treadmill during a portion of the instructor-led exercise class. 
     
     
       18. The exercise system of  claim 13 , wherein the display coupled to the first stationary exercise device is further configured to:
 display updates to the timeline to graphically indicate the remaining time or the elapsed time of the instructor-led exercise class. 
 
     
     
       19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 providing to a display associated with an exercise device, content of an exercise class and a timeline, wherein the timeline comprises time segments corresponding to different portions of the exercise class associated with different types of physical activity to be performed by a user; 
 receiving information indicative of the user's live activity associated with the exercise device, the information being associated with the user's physical activity; 
 synchronizing the information indicative of the user's live activity with archived information indicative of other users' activity that participated in a previous replay of the exercise class; 
 providing updates to the timeline to graphically indicate a remaining time or an elapsed time for at least one of the time segments in the exercise class; and 
 providing, during at least part of a duration of the exercise class, the information indicative of the user's live activity and the archived information indicative of other users' activity to be presented on the display as an updating ranked list together with the updates to the timeline. 
 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 causing indicia to be displayed on the display along at least one of the time segments, wherein the indicia graphically indicates the types of physical activity to be performed by the user.